Online ecommerce including auctions have become a fixture of online activity as have social platforms including social networking and social media sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, You Tube and the like. Ecommerce combined with the increasing popularity of social platforms, including the increasing popularity of mobile computing, mobile blogging, micro blogging, tweeting, mobile web activity and similar mobile communication, offers buyers and sellers the possibility of finding and providing specialized goods and services, antiques, used items, and other items that can be difficult to find in conventional stores or in other online storefronts, and at the same time participate in social online and social networking activity and environments. In addition, as prices may not be fixed, negotiation within the social networking and social media environments increases the interest level of both the buyers and the sellers. Buyers have the incentive of being able to obtain some items at significant discounts to retail list prices and joining in discussion on items of interest. Sellers have the incentive that they may have a unique item that will command an above market price in the interactivity of social networking and social communication environments. The merging of ecommerce and social platforms allow users to take advantage of how they use the web and internet which is both connecting with each other through their social graph and accessing the web and internet whenever, wherever and however they want. Such an integrated environment provides both buyers and sellers with the ability to participate in philanthropic giving through such ecommerce transactions and social experiences.
Auctions offer sellers the benefit of price competition among buyers, creating markets for goods and services which are worldwide and which are becoming increasingly mobile. In addition, collectors, hobbyists and other purchasers participate in social networking activity, are drawn to ecommerce environments, and are interested in consummating transactions seamlessly without leaving a single platform. Hence a secure ecommerce environment with seamless mobile access is important and central to the social networking, social ecommerce and social selling platforms. In addition, the ability to converge and harness the power of the social environment, including buyers and sellers who actively engage in real-time communication with one another through real time blogging, micro blogging, mobile blogging, tweeting and the like, and the mobile web together would be an important and a powerful tool to sellers and buyers alike.
Ecommerce sites including online auctions have typically experienced unexpected shipping costs, particularly for international shipments and are a persistent problem for sellers and buyers alike. Thus, a need exists for the parties to such ecommerce transactions to have access to better information in advance about the real shipping costs for their items including both domestic and international shipping options.
Furthermore, the online ecommerce and social site needs to be safe for use by both buyers and sellers. Hence, the need for an improved fraud checking system providing regulated pay outs to sellers (protecting buyers from making payments before sellers are verified) and verifying the use of a credit facility by the buyers (to protect sellers from shipping goods with the possibility of not collecting good funds) is desirable.
It is desirable to provide an online ecommerce and social networking system and method that is easy for buyers and sellers to use, provides social networking capabilities including micro blogging, following, messaging and seamless communication, and easily allows a buyer to move from communicating to browsing to purchasing to payment to shipping in a secure, safe and fun environment